UK #1, Murray State Nation's Only Undefeated Team

With Syracuse and Baylor losing over the weekend, the University (for lack of a better word) of Kentucky moved to No. 1 after holding off a determined Alabama team 77-71, while Murray State's win over SIU-Edwardsville leaves them now as the nation's only remaining unbeaten team.  UK remains at No. 1 with a 57-44 win at Georgia on Tuesday.

While Kentucky fans can revel in their No. 1 ranking, the most exciting story this basketball season is Murray St.  Led by guard Isiah Canaan, the Racers now stand at 20-0, and could wind up as high as a No. 4 seed in the NCAA if they finish the regular season and conference tournament undefeated, according to CBS sports commentators. 

While they lack a dominant inside force, the Racers are a dangerous outside shooting team, and have good size and depth at all positions.  They have also continued to win despite the recent injury to their leading rebounding and third-leading scorer, forward Ivan Aska, whose return to the lineup will strenghten their inside game and enable Murray's guards to do more damage offensively.  Murray St. hits their three-pointers consistently, runs the floor very well, and--with a roster of juniors and seniors, a stark contrast to UK--has excellent chemistry.  They play well together, maintain their poise, and they are quick to make on-court adjustments to whatever the oppositon is throwing at them.  The only doubts about them are the quality of opponents they've played.  While the OVC is a solid basketball conference, it is impossible to think of Murray St. having the same record were they in the SEC or Big East, for example.  But any team that makes it 20-0 and shoots the ball as well as Murray St. is not a team anyone wants to play in March.  And as for how Murray St. would stack up against the big-time conference opponent, I would remind everyone of Morehead St.'s opening round win against regular-season Big East champion Louisville in the first round of the NCAA tournament (which happenend within minutes of UK squeaking past Ivy League representative Princeton on a last second shot by Bradon Knight).

How far can Murray St go?  I haven't seen a more prolific outside shooter than Canaan, and when he is on, it is tough to see how Murray can be beat.  No one in their right mind would have thought teams like George Mason (2006) or VCU (2011) would make it to the Final Four, but these teams showed that a hot-shooting ball club that gels as a unit can take down the powerhouses loaded with better size and talent.  My call: unless Murray St has an off night shooting the ball or runs into a team with a dominant big man who has the game of his life, the Racers will make it at least to a regional final, a la Kent State in 2002. 

As for UK, they remain a ridiculously talent, yet erratic and at times frustrating team to watch.  Their talent is enough for them to go all the way, but depending on which Terrance Jones shows up, turnovers, and making some timely threes to stretch the defense and allow the Wildcats' formidable front line to go to work inside, this team is vulnerable, especially if freshman shot-blocking freak Anthony Davis gets into foul trouble.

Could it be that the first time ever UK and Murray St. meet would in a regional final or the Final Four?

Ogre-oid: The rapid decline of American sports culture (and sports in general)

When UK coach John Calipari announced that all five UK players in the draft going in the first round was the greatest moment in the history of UK basketball, he formalized what any remotely realistic and honest person already knew: UK basketball is a professional organization, and the university itself is a sports complex, not an academic institution. Details, details: once any player, from UK or elsewhere, declares for the draft, they are no longer part of the university team! Those players taken in the draft are pro players, not UK players. They stopped being UK players when the disgraceful regional final against West Virginia mercifully ended. Worse still, his comment betrays that in basketball and all American sports, the games themselves are now secondary! Not a final four or national championship, but a complete non-athletic moment--a draft for God's sake--is the greatest moment in the program's history. Yeah, sure, whatever. The promotional sideshow, Twitter gossip, and endless blather from so-called analysts like Jay Bilas--who is a compete fraud, an ex-jock from Duke who tries to pull off the ethos of an intellectual when all he does is speculate about meaningless sports issues, like which player will get drafted by which team and when--have overtaken the fun and excitement of watching a game. There is only one good thing about sports--if there is anything good about them--and that is enjoying the games. Shut the fuck up and put a fucking game on!

America's pseudo-love of soccer, which the rest of the world calls football, because that is what it is. Shots of Americans as people who actually enjoy life and community, getting together at the pub during the workday to celebrate the World Cup and cheer on the team are as fradulent as John Calipari or Jay Bilas. Americans don't care about soccer, and as soon as the U.S. lost to Ghana--a country that doesn't quite have the standard of living America does--appreciation for a truly great game vanished quicker than unemployment benefits. Now, predictably, the image of Landon Donvon's goal against Algeria will be played over and over and over to sell worthless crap that has nothing to do with the game itself.

Game 7 of the 2010 NBA Finals was the worst game of basketball I've ever seen in my life. Neither team scored in the hundreds--unlike the final scores of the previous four Game 7 finals meeting between the league's most storied franchises. While I appreciate a hard-nosed defensive effort, if you can't score the ball, you can't play. The only thing more pathetic than the performance of the two teams was the referrees' taking control of the game in the fourth quarter by calling a foul on the Celtics every time Kobe Bryant crashed into the lane or flailed his arms in Ray Allen's face. Kobe got his hardware but at the expense of any plausible comparison to the game's greats. Great players don't have off-nights in Game 7 of the finals, and watching Kobe--and the game itself--was painful. There simply should have been no champion this year. Hey, I've got an idea: let's start drafting eighth graders, expand the league to 67 teams, let each player have ten fouls per game, and put more money into marketing. Just let me and my dead grandmother know when tryouts are. Only 21st century America could turn baseball into a high scoring game and basketball into a low scoring one.

Uruguay's deliberate handball at the goal line in the final moments of their match with Ghana exposed a major flaw in the game. If a player uses his hand to bat down what obviously will be a goal--and in this case would have been the winning one--it should be goaltending, just like in basketball, and the goal should count, no free kick necessary. Granted, Ghana missed a free kick to win the game they should have made, but Uruguay's victory is cheap because they shouldn't be rewarded for a skill-less move in the game's most pivotal moment.